Ahead of the National Day holiday, domestic aluminium ingot inventories continued to set fresh year-to-date lows. According to SMM statistics, as of September 30, electrolytic aluminium ingot inventories in China's major consuming regions stood at 638,000 tonnes, down 36,000 tonnes from Monday and 40,000 tonnes from last Thursday. The pace of pre-holiday destocking was relatively fast overall, leaving ample buffer for inventory accumulation during the holiday. Source: SMM On the supply side, domestic downstream demand recovered somewhat month on month in September, but processing fees for some fabricated products came under pressure, leading some downstream enterprises to cut or suspend production, which lowered their willingness to purchase molten aluminium and pulled the...
In the final three trading days before the National Day holiday, the South China spot market stayed soft: aluminium prices continued to edge lower, the SHFE aluminium backwardation structure strengthened, and premiums over the next-month and far-month contracts were actually elevated. Ahead of the holiday, the willingness to cash out at the high basis was strong, and amid ongoing destocking, discount-priced cargoes still dominated spot circulation; demand was largely subdued, with only localized bargain-hunting replenishment and quite limited buying interest. On the whole, however, the high spot premium for aluminium ingots in South China remained largely intact. As of September 30, the SMM A00 aluminium (Foshan) spot premium over the 2610 contract stood at RMB 260 per tonne, still within...
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The aluminium futures contract traded on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) has recovered smartly in the last two weeks. The corrective fall from the August high of INR129 per kg found a bottom at INR116 in early October. The rally from this low signals the beginning of a new leg of the up-move for the contract. This gives short-term traders a good opportunity to initiate fresh long positions in the contract. Short-term view The short-term outlook is bullish for the MCX-aluminium futures contract. The contract has consolidated and formed a strong base between INR116 and INR120 between end September and mid-October. This adds strength to the recent rally that has been in place from the low of INR116.3. Key short-term supports for the contract are at INR120 and INR118. Immediate resistance...
• The Press Conference was held on Wednesday, October 29, 2014 at the Gulf Hotel, Kingdom of Bahrain. • Arabal Organising Committee Chairman, Mohammed Al Naki, Jameel Shakeel from Sohar Aluminium, Ghannam Al-Ghannam from Saudi Arabian Mining Company, (Ma’aden), Ibrahim Fakhri from Qatalum and Eline Hilal from Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba) were present. Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba), one of the world’s leading aluminium producers, today, Wednesday, October 29, 2014 held a Press Conference at the Gulf Hotel, Kingdom of Bahrain to highlight the details of Arabal 2014. Led by Chairman of the Arabal Organising Committee Mohammed Al-Naki, the other participants of the Press conference included Jameel Shakeel, Sohar Aluminium, Ghannam Al-Ghannam, Saudi Arabian Mining Company, (Ma’aden),...
Anil Agrawal, the founder and executive chairman of the London-listed Vedanta Resources travelled to Raipur on Monday to talk to the authorities about the power plant in Chhattisgarh’s Korba district which has been stalled and is affecting the other projects in the state. The 1200-Mw power plant that was set up in the Balco facility in the Korba district was completed two years ago and has been lying idle since then. Agarwal says, "The Chhattisgarh government should take initiative for starting the power plant at the earliest." This stalled project is having an adverse effect on the other projects of the company in the Chhattisgarh area, not to mention, this project is a National property and the government should be initiated without delay. The company had invested INR 15,000 crore on...
A meeting of the Board of Directors of National Aluminium Company Ltd will be held on November 12, 2014, to take on record the Unaudited Financial Results of the Company for the quarter ended September 30, 2014 (Q2). Shares of NATIONAL ALUMINIUM CO.LTD. was last trading in BSE at INR58.95 as compared to the previous close of INR 59.85. The total number of shares traded during the day was 99874 in over 1016 trades. The stock hit an intraday high of INR 60.45 and intraday low of 58.8. The net turnover during the day was INR 59,53,687.
Century Aluminum reports earnings tomorrow afternoon, and one trader apparently believes that declines will be limited through next spring. optionMONSTER's tracking systems yesterday detected the sale of 2,000 March 22 puts for $1.45, below the bid price at the time. This is clearly a new position, as open interest in the strike was just 918 contracts before the trade appeared. The put seller collects the $1.45 credit and is looking for CENX to stay above $22 through expiration in mid-March. If the stock falls below that strike price, the trader will be on the hook to buy shares at that level. CENX fell 4.27 percent to $26.90 yesterday but is up 200 percent in the last year. The aluminum producer pulled back after hitting a six-year high of $29.54 on Sept. 5 but found support at the $22...
At the London Metal Exchange seminar two distinct and diametrically opposite opinions came forth regarding the global aluminium situation – whether it is in deficit or surplus? Nic Brown of Natixis claimed that the market was in deficit which is expected grow wider in the next two three years. David Wilson of Citi Bank on the other hand stated that the market is in surplus and expected to stay that way till 2017 at least. The reason for these two contradictory theories is two prime factors – lack of conclusive counting system and China. Calculating the demand and supply statistics of any industrial metal is an incredibly difficult task and things get more complicated when it comes to aluminium. Unlike International Study Groups that cover the statistical reports for the other metals like...
VHE has designed and fabricated a thimble removal press with several novel features. The machine was installed in a smelter in Iceland in mid-2013. Thimble is associated with the process of aluminium smelting where it forms the metal brushings attached to the anode stems. They are usually made up of cast iron and needs to be removed frequently so that the anode stem can be reused after cleaning and the metal remains of the thimble can be sent to recycling. The thimble press is designed for use with stubs arranged three in line but may be adapted for other configurations. Uniquely, the design permits the machine to automatically adjust to yokes with different stem offsets, a necessary feature at certain smelters. When a rod enters the press the stem is clamped with a set of hydraulically...
The Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden) announced strong financial and operating results for the third quarter of 2014. Ma’aden sales during the quarter reached SR 3152 million, an increase of 96% over the same quarter last year, while operational profit was SR 694 million in Q3 2013, an increase of 622% compared to same quarter in 2013. This significant increase in operating income was largely attributable to higher sales volumes and an increase in prices achieved for all Ma’aden products except gold. Although net income decreased in Q3 2014 compared to Q3 2013, this is largely due to contractual payments from partners Mosaic and Sabic that were paid to Ma’aden in Q3 2013. When these payments are excluded, Ma’aden achieved an increase in net income this quarter compared to the same...
Rio Tinto Alcan (RTA), SNC-Lavalin, and Hatch received the coveted Project of the Year award at last night's Project Management Institute (PMI) Professional Awards Gala. The PMI Professional Awards honor organizations and individuals whose passion, talent and expertise make the greatest contributions to the project management profession. And this team had plenty of passion. In fact, the motto "rigor, courage, passion" was adopted to drive the team's commitment to meeting the project goals and exceeding RTA's expectations for health, safety, and the environment (HSE). AP60 Phase 1 is a new aluminum plant located in Jonquiere, Quebec (464 km northeast of Montreal). The plant was designed to test RTA's proprietary AP60 smelting technology at an industrial scale. The project is the...
In a report released by His Excellency Abdullah Sultan Al Shamsi, the assistant Undersecretary of Industry in the Ministry of Economy, he stated that the Government of India had started an investigation on 7th April 2014, regarding import of aluminium ingots from UAE to India. The root of the investigation lay in complaints of the Indian domestic aluminium producers who accused UAE of bringing in cheap aluminium ingots that is destroying the market for their products in the Indian markets. The complaint was registered under the category of ‘not alloyed ingots of unwrought aluminium’. The anti-dumping Ministry of UAE submitted several documents to the Government of India which proves that the claims raised by India do not meet the World Trade Organization Agreement of Safeguards’ legal...
In response to the EU Council Conclusions on the 2030 Climate and Energy package, the European aluminium industry welcomes the confirmation that measures to stop investment leakage will continue after 2020. After a decade of disinvestment, it is now high time to deliver the concrete measures that will rebuild European manufacturing’s leadership in low carbon solutions. Director-General of the European Aluminium Association (EAA) Gerd Götz commented: “Today, EU Heads of state and government sent a clear signal that high energy costs in Europe must be addressed in the post-2020 era. In particular, we strongly welcome the Council’s commitment to address indirect carbon costs. These costs are six times higher than direct carbon costs for the aluminium industry and have already cost Europe...
China’s slowdown in construction has affected the aluminium market forcing the smelters to produce more ingots for domestic spot markets moving away from the construction-friendly billets. The construction of new building has dipped 9.3 percent in the first nine months of this year when compared to the last and real estate accounts for the almost one-third of the total aluminium demand in China, the biggest consumer and producer of the metal. The mainland is now aiming to increase its export of semi-finished aluminium products which has already risen in the past nine months by nearly 10 percent. Exporting of primary aluminium in China is uneconomical as it faces a tax of 15 percent but the export of semi-finished aluminium products can well thrive due to the entitled rebate of 13-15...
Aluminum capped the biggest two-day loss in three weeks as signs of a weaker housing market raised concern that demand will slow in China, the world’s top metals consumer. New-home prices fell in all but one Chinese city monitored by the government in September, the nation’s statistics bureau said today. Aluminum’s uses in construction include sheet products for roofing and wall cladding, according to Rio Tinto Group, which produces the lightweight metal. “The construction sector is one of the major consumers of aluminum,” Daniel Briesemann, an analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt, said in a telephone interview. “If the construction sector is going to cool down, as falling home prices in China might suggest, it would have a negative impact on demand.” Aluminum for delivery in three...
The Ministry of Economy announced on Sunday that following Indian authorities’ investigation into the UAE’s aluminium ingot exports to India will not result in the imposition of any duty or tariff. Abdullah Sultan Al Shamsi, Assistant Under-Secretary for Industry in the Ministry of Economy, said that the Indian government initiated its investigation this year on April 7, into imports of “not alloyed ingots of unwrought aluminum”. The investigation was launched due to Indian aluminum producers’ claims of economic harm due to the increased imports of cheap aluminum ingots. Since the start of the investigation, the Ministry has held meetings with Emirates Global Aluminum (Dubal and Emal), the only producer of aluminum ingots in the UAE. The ministry reviewed information and provided help...
Press Metal Bhd is upbeat on the outlook of the aluminium industry driven by supply shortage amid higher demand from various industries including car, construction, aviation and cable. Group chief executive officer, Datuk Koon Poh Keong, said despite the forecast deficit of one million tonnes this year, more industries were moving to use it primarily due to the tighter regulation on emission control in the Western countries. "The price of aluminium has been holding well. It is at US$2,000 a tonne now and next year is set to be US$2,200," he told reporters after the company's extraordinary general meeting on Thursday. Last year, the price stood at US$1,700 per tonne. He said car sector was one of the major industries shifting from steel-based to aluminium as seen by US Ford Motor Co's...
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKeX) has signed a preliminary deal with China Merchant Group companies aimed at expanding London Metal Exchange warehouses in Asia and developing new products and services for the Asian market. HKeX has been under pressure to boost earnings ever since it bought the London Metal Exchange (LME) in 2012 for $2.2 billion. To this end, it has long planned to steer the LME into mainland China, the world's biggest metals market. HKeX representatives, including Chief Executive Charles Li, are in London this week for LME Week, the global metals industry's largest annual gathering. The deal or MoU (memorandum of understanding) was signed on Wednesday with China Merchants Group (CMG) and China Merchants Securities (CMS). "This agreement ... marks the beginning of...
Alcoa today announced that it has reached an agreement to sell its ownership stake in the Mt. Holly aluminum smelter in Goose Creek, South Carolina, to Century Aluminum Company for $67.5 million in cash, plus an additional potential earn-out. Mt. Holly is owned 50.3 percent by Alcoa and 49.7 percent by Century. “While Mt. Holly is a strong facility, its cost structure doesn’t match Alcoa’s criteria for a low cost portfolio of upstream assets,” said Bob Wilt, President, Alcoa Global Primary Products. “The sale will help achieve Alcoa’s strategy to optimize its commodity portfolio, and protect the facility’s jobs and economic contribution to the local community. We would like to thank our community stakeholders and the employees of Mt. Holly for their years of support.” The smelter has the...
Nic Brown, the head of commodities research at Natixis announced at the LME Metals Seminar in London that aluminium prices will average above $2000 per tonne in 2015. Addressing the delegates, Brown said that the global shortage of bauxite coupled with the increase in demand worldwide, aluminium prices are likely to be pushed to an average of around $2,070 in 2015 and $2,240 in 2016. He further says, “We think aluminium markets will face a warming phase in the years ahead and we expect prices to rise.” Since Chinese producers were “very dependent” on Indonesian bauxite, the sudden cut off has hit them hard and he says “next year this will become an issue as smelters become short of bauxite”. As more automakers are seeking lighter alternative to steel, aluminium is soon becoming the...
